During the 2009-10 hockey season, the University of Vermont went 6-0-1 in regular-season non-conference games.

Last winter, the Catamounts posted an 8-2-3 record in regular-season non-conference games.

In each of those seasons, those non-conference records were decisive factors for UVM’s inclusion in the NCAA tournament. The Catamounts finished their ’09-10 Hockey East schedule at 9-117 and they were right at .500 — 10-10-0 — a year ago.

That’s why this weekend’s home-and-home series with former ECAC Hockey rival Clarkson is so crucial. Gone are the days when early season non-conference games were opportunities to experiment with lineups, start a backup goalie or give non-regulars game time.

Non-conference games gained importance a few years back with Division I hockey moved to a mathematical performance to determine its NCAA field. Prior to that, the NCAA selection committee gave more emphasis to the last half of the season—usually all league games—in order to select the best teams at that point

Now, the season’s first game counts exactly as much as the last game, be it against a league or a non-conference foe.

“Last year, we had an extremely good non-conference record against good opponents, but we also had a great showing as a league, as the Hockey East conference, so that was why Notre Dame and ourselves made the tournament,” UVM head coach Kevin Sneddon said.

“We talked a lot in the preseason and in the summer that every game on our schedule matters,” Sneddon said. “Your first game of the year is equal to your last game of the year in terms of RPI, power rankings, things like that.

“Our returning players understand that probably for our last two trips … we got in largely due to the fact we had such a strong strength of schedule and we won the games we needed to win in non-conference,” he said.

One of those victories last year was a 3-2 decision over the Golden Knights in the Catamount Cup. Clarkson opened this season with matching 3-1 wins at Niagara and RIT while Vermont dismantled Northeastern, 6-2, in an HEA game.

“Systems-wise, they will be very similar, big, strong defensively and they don’t give you an inch,” Sneddon said. “If we stand on the perimeter, we’re not going to be able to create a lot of offense. We’re going to have to be very good on our rush attacks.

“They’re coming back to play their third game in a row on the road and they have some confidence they can win on the road,” he said.

Sneddon said he and Clarkson coach Casey Jones agreed that a home-and-home series — the teams meet again in Potsdam, N.Y., on Saturday — “would be neat.” The teams have seldom met since UVM left the ECAC but Hockey East’s downsizing its schedule to 22 games left more openings for non-conference renewals of such series.

Adding defensemen: In addition to gaining the services of offensive defenseman Trey Phillips as soon as the first semester ends, the Catamounts expect to add another defenseman by the start of the second semester.

Ori Abramson briefly attended Providence before illness sidelined him. He left Providence, committed to Boston University, then decided on Vermont, where it’s likely he will be eligible for the second semester.

Last year, playing for the New Jersey Hitmen of the USPHL Premier, Abramson scored three goals and 26 points in 41 games with 40 minutes in penalties.

Abramson is a 6-foot-2, 207-pound defenseman from Toronto. He has two years of eligibility plus the second semester this year and could petition for a medical waiver to regain the year he lost to illness.

Phillips is ineligible for UVM’s first 15 games due to an NCAA ruling regarding his time of admission.

UVM women at home: While the men play at Gutterson on Friday and Cheel Arena on Saturday, the Vermont women will play a two-game set against RIT at The Gut at 4 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.

Both teams sports 2-1-1 records. UVM went 1-0-1 in a home-and-home series with RPI last weekend. RIT lost to New Hampshire 1-0 and tied Northeastern at 2 in its last two games. The Catamounts and the Tigers split a pair of one-sided decisions a year ago.